Rahmon in Qatar: Middle East and Central Asia
On 22 January 2024, Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon concluded his state visit to Qatar. On that day, he held talks with Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and the Qatari Minister of Trade and Industry, after which Rahmon held talks with representatives of Qatari business. The Tajik President proposed to his Qatari counterparts the establishment of a joint investment fund as a new mechanism to ensure economic partnership between the two countries. Such bilateral funds are active in Central Asia: examples include the Russian-Kyrgyz Development Fund, the Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan Fund, as well as the investment fund of Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia…
The dismissal of Kazakhstan’s government - another step to political reform?
On February 5, 2024 Kazakhstan’s government was dismissed, and Deputy Prime Minister Roman Sklyar was named as acting Prime Minister. After the president has considered the candidacy of Oljas Bektenov nominated by the ruling party for the post of prime minister, the process of forming a new cabinet will be launched. This political development is not entirely unexpected – only recently, in September 2023, there was a reshuffle in the Kazakh government, in which the ban on a single person occupying…
China - Uzbekistan: the new status of relations
On January 24, 2024, Uzbek President Shavkat Miromonovich Mirziyoyev held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping as part of his official visit to China. Meetings between the two states are not uncommon, having occurred four times in 2023 alone. This time, however, it is an event of historic proportions as the two countries have elevated their bilateral relations to an “all-weather all-round strategic partnership in a new era.” The meeting was attended by up to 25 high-ranking representatives from the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Uzbekistan…
Central Asia: Reaction to Taiwan Elections
Many international affairs observers are aware of the results of the January 2024 elections in Taiwan and the reactions of major world powers. However, in today’s international relations, the stance of smaller players holds greater significance than it did in the past. This article provides an overview of how state authorities in Central Asian countries and Mongolia reacted to this event. On January 14, 2024, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan issued a statement confirming their firm support…
The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railroad: will construction begin in 2024?
On December 28, 2023, the head of Kyrgyzstan’s National Investment Agency announced that the construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railroad – which is to form an important element of a planned Eurasian rail corridor – will begin in 2024. This announcement appears to signal the beginning of a new stage in the implementation of the project, which was initially proposed by the participating countries back in the 1990s, and which will have an important significance for the whole of Eurasia due…
Who is to blame for Mongolia’s fuel shortages?
Since the third quarter of 2023, the Mongolian public have been shaken by regular media reports of gasoline and diesel shortages in various parts of the country. Furthermore, to lend credence to these reports, a regular succession of publications have appeared stating just how many days’ worth of fuel are left in the country. This trend has become particularly evident since the Russian Federation introduced restrictions on fuel exports in 2023 to stabilize its domestic market. Mongolia receives more than 95% of all its fuel by rail from its northern neighbor, and more than 75% of all of Ulaanbaatar’s fuel imports come from Rosneft…
Developing Partnership between Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia in a New Era for Central Asia
In 1991, Saudi Arabia was one of the first countries to recognize Uzbekistan as a new independent Central Asian republic, marking a significant milestone in the modern history of relations between the two nations. During the 1990s and 2010s, the two countries cooperated on several occasions. One notable example is Uzbekistan’s active participation in so-called mosque diplomacy, which involved the construction of religious sites in several states with large Muslim communities, funded by Saudi Arabia…
UAE-Turkmenistan: a year of revival followed by a year of progress?
Chairman of the Halk Maslakhaty of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov visited the United Arab Emirates from January 4-6, 2024. During his visit, the representative of the Republic held meetings with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, as well as the representative of the UAE President for Affairs with Turkmenistan and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Dragon Oil. According to state websites, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov focused on the prospects of cooperation between the UAE and Turkmenistan in developing oil and gas resources, transport corridors, and green energy…
Rosatom in Kyrgyzstan - opening a new page in the nuclear power industry
Low-capacity nuclear power plants are one of the most promising areas that determine the key trends in the development of nuclear energy on a global scale. Once complex, dangerous, labour-intensive and science-intensive NPP development projects, the cost of implementation of which implied economic profitability only in case of impressive scale and capacity of the projects, could be implemented only in the most developed countries of the world. Now such projects, especially due to the scientific breakthrough…
Rosatom in Kazakhstan - the referendum, tender and unique advantages
In the second half of 2023, Rosatom’s activities to promote and implement new NPP projects in the Central Asian republics entered an unprecedentedly active phase. At present, such initiatives, which are at different stages of discussion and implementation, are proposed to three of the five countries of the region – Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. But by far the largest of the promising projects in the region is the concept of creating the first nuclear power plant in the leading country in Central Asia in terms of electricity consumption, namely Kazakhstan. This particular project…
The Cost of American Friendship
The Pakistani leadership’s decision to deport hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees back to Afghanistan has revealed the United States’ disdain for those it called partners more than two years ago. On October 3, Pakistani authorities announced their decision to sent Afghan refugees home, including those who immigrated here in the 1980s, lived in the country for some decades of their lives and have already integrated into Pakistani life with nothing in Afghanistan. October 31 was set as the deadline for voluntary departure from Pakistan. Those who do not leave the country…
SPECA Summit - The New Political and Economic Space and the Role of Baku
On November 24, 2023, Baku became the center of a newly emerging geopolitical and geo-economic region in Eurasia. The city hosted its first-ever SPECA summit, dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the United Nations Special Program for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA). Established in 1998, the United Nations Special Program for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA) seeks to offer both humanitarian and economic support to Azerbaijan and the Central Asian nations. This program was initiated in 1997 by Kazakhstan, led by then-President Nursultan Nazarbayev…